Salvaged Polaroid Experiment
Forget Results and Try Stuff
I tend to get a little bit too results oriented sometimes. That’s modern life I guess. How efficient are you? Are you wasting time? How are you going to monetize that? Are you posting regularly? But honestly? I just like making stuff. I like screwing around not really knowing what the hell I’m doing and stumbling onto something that makes me giggle.
Case in point: this week I tried a new project that didn’t work out (emulsion lifts + watercolor paint), so I decided to take a break from sending out this newsletter. I’ve done a pretty decent job of keeping this thing going, but for the first time in a long time, there was nothing to send. I was kind of bummed out. The main goal is for me to have a regular place to keep track of what I’m doing, and to remind me to spend time being creative, so I shouldn’t beat myself up about it, but I kind of did.
Last night, I decided to go back over the Polaroids from the failed project (well, scans of them… the originals were destroyed in that project). I decided to play around with them digitally and things started to click. I’ve never taken something analog I’ve created and manipulated it digitally, but these were all I had left—and it worked.
I tried not to think too much about what I was doing and just followed my gut, and these 5 images are what I ended up with. It was a good reminder to let go and not be so attached to outcomes. I had a blast working on that original project—maybe that’s enough. Just the fun you have while you’re in it. This second round made me giggle though.
Thanks for looking.








I guess this really shows that creativity can come at any stage of the process. Looks like it was worth it to go back and play with what you had! Thanks for the reminder and for sharing these!
Love these images Dan, keep at it if it makes you happy. That's all that matters!